Sea Stories: #54 - Naval Edged Weapons

[Gunboat1]

Sea Stories #54 - Naval Edged Weapons

 

No single attribute has played a greater part in the survival of the human species and its ascendance to the top of the food chain than our ability to use tools. And the fundamental tool of the human animal is the edged weapon, or basically, the knife. The knife,  in conjunction with the opposable thumb with which to wield it, has been the single most important factor in human evolutionary achievement, the rise and fall of civilizations, the mastery of the environment and the elements. When things go south, there is no more important tool, even in the modern age, than the knife. All of which is a long way of saying that I like sharp, shiny things. Always have.

 

Weapons are very much designed with the understanding that their uses have the preservation of life itself at stake. Form follows function. Chipped stone first yielded to copper, then bronze, which yielded in time to iron, and then to increasingly better steels as technology and materials science progressed And most individual weapons are variations on a theme. The basic weapon? The knife. A sword? A long knife, the better to kill an enemy with from a bit further away. An axe? A knife on a stick. A spear? A knife on a loooong stick. An arrow? A small knife on a thin flying stick. A bullet? A knife you can throw really far and fast. Shrapnel? Lots of knives propelled by explosions. The knife is the mother of many weapons. And different cultures developed different designs, across many ages and based upon their way of fighting, in the context of their dress, tactics and environment.

 

In the modern age military, hand-held edged weapons are largely confined to uniformed ceremonial use (there are some exceptions among elite troops.) The US Army doesn't even train recruits in the use of the bayonet anymore. That's a pity. But there are certain weapons associated with each service's dress uniforms. The US Army has both an Officer's sword and an NCO sword. Both are saber designs, with curved blades and (ostensibly sharpened) false edges to be used to deliver fencing back cuts. The historical designs of both harken back to actual weapons that were used by actual soldiers, infantry and cavalry, in mortal combat. The USMC has an Officer's sword, and an NCO saber. Both are modeled after actual weapons, and the officer's sword is in fact a copy of a foreign weapon that was presented by a foreign potentate to a USMC officer, who then carried it as a trophy. The US Air Force has an Officer's sword. As the Air Force was born long after hand-to-hand combat by officers was passe, and they wanted to look different from the other services in their dress uniforms, they chose a straight bladed semi-civilized design with a very small guard. It is basically a piece of costume jewelry. (To be fair, the USAF also uses the Army officer's saber, as they grew out of the Army Air Corps.)

 

But the USN (and the British Royal Navy before it) has historically had three edged weapons associated with it, and many battles have seen their use. The three are the Dirk, the Cutlass and the Naval Officer's Sword. The design of each reflects the conditions of use which were expected. Combat on the deck of a warship is a very close, confined affair. Sailors would climb aboard their enemies' ship. There would be men cheek to jowl, with rigging, spars, equipment, sails and cannons all around them. There was simply little room to deliver wide, swinging, haymaker slashes. Attempting to do that could easily lead to your weapon catching on someone or something before it reached its intended target, and leaving you open to a killing blow. So naval weapons mostly emphasized the thrust vice the slash. This stroke could be delivered straight in, with a minimum of space and a quick economy of motion. It is also usually more deadly than a slash; slashes lead to painful bleeding which in time may lead to death, but more often lead to capitulation. Thrusts lead to hemorrhage, which quite usually leads to death, thereby conclusively winning the argument. (Historical digression: I once read a fascinating treatise by a noted martial artist, who posited that historically, cultures whose weapons and tactics favored the thrust conquered more, won more and lasted longer than cultures which emphasized the slash. The Chinese Jian,  the Greek Xiphos, the Roman Gladius, the English Backsword and the moderately-curved Saber all saw empires rise behind their keen points. The Author “made his point”, at least to me.)

The Dirk: The Dirk was normally carried by Midshipmen. As Midshipmen were typically young men in their early-late teens, they were not yet able to wield longer, heavier weapons, but still had to be able to defend themselves. A dirk is a smallish, straight bladed dagger with a needle point, and usually with a single sharpened edge and a double guard. It didn't slash well, but it pierced like nobody's business in a thrust.

 

The Cutlass: The Cutlass was usually wielded by common sailors, who had little instruction in fencing. Put a sword in the hands of an untrained man, and his usual instinct is to slash with it. So a short, heavy-bladed weapon with a massive handguard and a thrusting point was developed – the Cutlass. It could slash and thrust, had enough mass to cleave flesh and bone if a swing could be delivered, and it was short enough to allow use in close confines. (Some sailors were also issued a pike, which is a pure thrusting weapon, or a boarding axe. These axes were not for fighting per se; they were to be used to cut down the enemies' supportive rigging, thereby dismasting their ship and winning the battle. But they were dandy for killing if you could get one into an enemy's skull.) So the Cutlass became a traditional naval weapon, optimized for use in close quarters by a relatively unskilled man.

 

The Naval Officer's Sword: A Naval Officer was (and is) a gentleman. His education, therefore, included the manly art of fencing: fighting with a sword, like a gentleman. Thrust and parry, with only occasional subtle slashes as tactical elements. So a Naval Officer's sword followed a historical pattern called a spadroon – a longish, straight blade, with a keen point and a sharpened false (back) edge near the point, to allow back cuts. It had a stylized knucklebow and guard to protect the hand during parrying maneuvers, and featured nautical motifs as artistic embellishments. It was a poor slashing tool, but a very keen thrusting weapon, capable of running an opponent through with ease. Straight in, straight out, gurgle, thunk, fight over. Hoist the colors, splice the main brace, and start calculating a course back to home port.

A Cutlass

A Dirk

A Naval Officer's Sword

Edited December 23, 2020 by Gunboat1

[railfancwb]

Thanks again for an interesting column. The tool used in the sport of fencing, an epee(?) I think, resembles a Naval Officer’s Sword. 

[ChuteTheMall]

1 hour ago, Gunboat1 said:

. (Historical digression: I once read a fascinating treatise by a noted martial artist, who posited that historically, cultures whose weapons and tactics favored the thrust conquered more, won more and lasted longer than cultures which emphasized the slash. The Chinese Jian, The Greek Xiphos, the Roman Gladius, The English Backsword and the moderately-curved Saber all saw empires rise behind their keen points. The Author “made his point”, at least to me.)

 

Somewhere I read that examining the bodies, or rather the mummies, of ancient warriors showed they had survived numerous slashing wounds but rarely had more than one thrusting wound. And even a sharp stick can penetrate bare flesh, for those primitive societies who haven't learned metal-working.

Edited December 21, 2020 by ChuteTheMall

[Gunboat1]

7 hours ago, ChuteTheMall said:

Somewhere I read that examining the bodies, or rather the mummies, of ancient warriors showed they had survived numerous slashing wounds but rarely had more than one thrusting wound. And even a sharp stick can penetrate bare flesh, for those primitive societies who haven't learned metal-working.

If you want to inspire a genuine nightmare, look at how the Zulu Impis employed the iklwa, sometimes also (incorrectly) called the assegai.  A truly terrifying weapon in determined hands.

Edited December 22, 2020 by Gunboat1